Travelers commonly use luggage to transport personal belongings between one location and another. During transport, many travelers stand their luggage upright, on one end, at some point during their journey. For example, when at an airline ticket counter, many travelers stand their luggage upright while interacting with an airline representative. However, in many circumstances, the luggage cannot balance in this upright position without support from the traveler, and thus the luggage tips over, frustrating the traveler and possibly damaging fragile belongings contained therein.
Rolling luggage has become increasingly popular in recent years. A common configuration for this type of luggage includes a container or case portion that is generally rectangular in shape in which one or more articles can be stored for travel. The container is typically comprised of a base, side walls, ends, and a lid. A wheel assembly is commonly provided to allow the container to be rolled rather than carried. The wheel assembly generally includes a pair of wheels mounted at an interface of the base and one of the ends of the luggage. A telescoping handle assembly is generally provided attached to the base. The telescoping handle assembly has at least one, and usually two, telescoping posts that can extend from the top panel of the container, which are connected by a handle for wheeling the luggage.
Typically, such rolling luggage configurations are suitcases, which have substantially rigid sides and/or a substantially rigid lid, however suitcases can be heavy, and take up a large amount of storage space when not in use. Duffel bags are also popular because of their lightweight, flexible construction and ability to store a large quantity of items. In addition, the flexible material allows the duffel bag to be folded or crumpled for storage. However, because duffel bags are formed of flexible materials, it is generally not possible to stand them on their wheeled end unless they are very full of items because the sides and lid tend to sag under the weight of the non-wheeled end, which can tip the duffel bag over due to the weight of the telescoping handle assembly, and because the telescoping handle assembly tends to be rigid and cannot also sag uniformly with the sides and lid. Duffel bags have therefore not been successfully formed into wheeled articles of luggage.